David Sawchuk 2010 Demo Reel for Critique!
Hello everyone. My name is David Sawchuk, looking to become an environment artist.
(Quick note.. as of this post it was JUST uploaded. The footage seemed squished my guess is its still processing.)
[ame]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in6junF5Ru4[/ame]
The posted link is my demo reel. I just graduated my post grad, 3d college course about a week ago.
Looking for critiques on how I can improve my reel mainly, but even comments on my work will be greatly appriciated.
I will be posting the final version on Vimeo and will be linking to that from my website in the future.
Also check back to this page if you dont mind. I will be uploading some stills tommorow(Thursday) to get critiques on.
Really appriciate your time.
Thanks for watching!
(Quick note.. as of this post it was JUST uploaded. The footage seemed squished my guess is its still processing.)
[ame]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=in6junF5Ru4[/ame]The posted link is my demo reel. I just graduated my post grad, 3d college course about a week ago.
Looking for critiques on how I can improve my reel mainly, but even comments on my work will be greatly appriciated.
I will be posting the final version on Vimeo and will be linking to that from my website in the future.
Also check back to this page if you dont mind. I will be uploading some stills tommorow(Thursday) to get critiques on.
Really appriciate your time.
Thanks for watching!
Replies
i like the jump pad(?) thing. its well presented and the model looks nice.
the sniper rifle at the end has a REALLY dark spec making the metal look wrong.
overall i liked it and right now im in a similar situation (graduated and looking for a job) so i wish you best of luck!
I liked it when it eventually got to the diorama pieces, but yeah I wasn't digging the still images, they just look pasted on with no type of border or presentation and more importantly no fly throughs of those interesting levels you seemed to thumbnail.
Heres a few examples I could find of what i'm talking about,
[ame]
[ame]
That's my take on it, I usually prefer a website portfolio (which you have and serves you more justice then the showreel) over a showreel.
I need to start sending things out now. So I made the choice to put stills in for the moment.
I also wanted to lead with my sniper and character platform but i'm trying to be an environment artist and figured the obvious choice was to leave the envrionments at the front.
Most of the places i've researched just want an online portfolio, but I know a demo reel is key and dont want to not have it. Even if its not ideal at the moment.
So would it be better to not have a demo reel and rely on the online portfolio? Or to have a demo reel with a few stills and back it up with the portfolio?
I appriciate your comments everyone and will be working to make the changes.
Please keep them coming!
Yeah I get you on that. Environment portfolio scenes are usually built for two to three camera angles where you get the best out of different shots, or more, depending on the type of scene your doing of course.
Over here in the UK atleast, from what i've looked at for junior / senior positions and what not, I can't say i've seen showreel in most of the company requirements to apply, it's mostly samples of work or an online portfolio website.
In the case a company does want a showreel, they could also mean an online portfolio, since I contacted a company a few months ago as to find out if showreel meant a typical showreeling video, or if it could count as an online portfolio.
This is just my opinion of course, but I believe if your website better displays your work then a showreel, then dump the reel, or redo it. We have to do one in our final year, and from our current graduates who're ahead of us, most of them just rolled with a website when applying for their jobs, cause the showreels were pretty lackluster.
Going to spend the night doing some moving versions of my stills and get those rendered out over the next week or so. Should probably fix the beggining and make it a stronger reel over all. (I hope!)
Word, you got some solid stuff, it's just refining and refining to get it presented best way possible, which your doing, so it's all good in teh hood, lucky bugger graduating, still got another year left over here >=|
Just can't wait to get out into the workface so I can continue learning.
Just wanted to post an update to see if this has better flow. Got some problems that creeped up I gotta knock out but seeing as the problem with the old one was the stills.
Just wanted to get your thoughts on this.
[ame]
Appriciate your time.
Also for anyone who might know.. I got rid of the stills in the beggining for moving camera shots. But because of that i'm only showing 2 environments instead of 5. Is it ok to mix in a couple stills? Or is 2 fine and the rest would be on my website.
Thanks again
Need more polygon counts and wireframes too.
In regards to your portfolio, the way you are displaying your images is very odd as well, i hover over the image i want to see and BAM it shows up underneath confusing way to show case your stuff, not very intuitive to people that are used to seeing images appear a certain way on the internet.
Keep it simple man, if we are getting frustrated the employer will give you 2 seconds before they close their browser and move on to the next person.
Take me 'directly' to the art. You don't need a 'home' page. I'd get rid or "Environments" and Objects and just make a 3D section with thumbnails to your stuff. it already takes two clicks to see your work.
Thanks
As for the website, thats kind of a tricky area. I see lots of portfolios that are setup like mine. I just tried to add my own touch. I know people who only like one page sites with their 60 images all on one white page. Then their's people who get a bit more creative. I'll look into reducing the clicks somehow, but if i'm sending my online portfolio to someone id be linking to the portfolio not the main page so.
Welcome any thoughts on the matter.. but I think this would be half like one way half like the other situations.
Thanks again.
Best of luck.
Obviously my high res stills will be on my website and will be what I direct 99.5% of the people to.
I wouldn't even worry about your website right now though. Your portfolio isn't good enough to get interest from companies.
Practically none of your art from what I can tell is even game art. You've got stuff like paint fx, which aren't used in games, and the one mesh where you actually showed a wireframe was in SubD, which is also useless.
Scenes are important in an environment artist portfolio, but only after you've got the basics down. If you are hired as an associate environment artist at most companies, you are going to be making props. You need to master that first.
You need to throw out your portfolio, as painful as that is, and go back to the basics. Pick a medium complexity prop from good concept art, and create a fully textured game ready asset that is baked down from a high poly. Post it on polycount and get feedback throughout the process. Then make a more complex one, and so one. Once you got 4-6 detailed props that match the quality of current gen games, you'll be in good shape and can start thinking about a scene.
Right now you are just wasting time on presentation for a portfolio that isn't good enough. Focus on the portfolio. I went through a similar process after graduating with a reel that wasn't good enough, and after biting the bullet, I was able to get a job after 9 months of hard work. Hopefully you won't waste as much time as I did thinking my portfolio was good enough.
Sorry man, its the truth.